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Michael Fletcher writes about the national economy for the Post, where he has been a reporter since 1995. Previously, he was a White House correspondent and he also has covered national education policy, race relations and the District government. Prior to coming to The Post, he spent 13 years as a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. Fletcher is co-author of "Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas," published by Doubleday in 2007. Born and raised in New York City, Fletcher is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School and Boston University.

Ariana Eunjung Cha writes about the economy for the Post and is the Web editor for its national economy and business section. She has served as the paper's bureau chief in Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco and as a correspondent in Baghdad.

Brady Dennis writes about economic policy and financial regulation. Before coming to The Post in September 2008, he was a staff writer at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. At the Post, he was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and a Gerald Loeb Award for a three-part series he and a colleague wrote about the rise and fall of American International Group.

Zachary Goldfarb has covered the U.S. financial crisis for The Post for more than three years. Originally from Manhattan, he is a graduate of the Princeton University and now lives in Washington, D.C. He enjoys vegetarian cooking, is getting started as a cyclist and spends too much time obsessing over gadgets.

Jia Lynn Yang is a staff writer at The Washington Post who covers policy that affects corporate America. She's interested in taxes, regulation and all the ways that business and Washington try to influence and make sense of one another. Before joining The Post, Jia Lynn was a Washington correspondent for Fortune magazine.

Neil Irwin writes about the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve. He has been at the Post since 2000 and has an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism. His interests include bond market data, cured pork products, and pinot noir.

Lori Montgomery writes about national economic policy emanating from the White House and Capitol Hill. A former foreign correspondent who traveled Europe pre-euro, she also covered domestic politics in such disparate locales as Dallas and Detroit. She has three kids, one dog and no time for your so-called "interests."

Ylan Q. Mui covers the consumer economy and has been a member of the Financial staff since 2005 and a staff writer since 2002. She is also an adjunct journalism instructor at the University of Maryland. Ylan graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans, where she was born and raised.

Howard Schneider covers international economics and trade for the Post. He has served in a variety of roles at the paper, three tours abroad in Israel, Egypt and Canada, and as economics editor. He is a native of Maryland's Eastern Shore, and proudly includes a chief oyster inspector among his ancestors.

Mike Shepard is the Night Editor for Economy and Business News. A graduate of Georgetown University, Mike has worked at the Post for 22 years in a variety of editing assignments. He spent 1997 teaching journalism in Brazil on a Fulbright scholarship and is a fluent speaker of Portuguese.

Political Economy explores how political forces in Washington and elsewhere in the world shape the economy and how corporate agendas influence political institutions and politicians. The blog offers new perspectives on the day's top economic and business stories with exclusive interviews with government officials and lawmakers, commentary from influential economists and analysis from Post reporters. Ariana Eunjung Cha is the blog's lead writer and Mike Shepard is the author of the daily economic agenda.

"Now that we're all used to pre-nups, it's time to start thinking about divorce insurance: Ever had that sinking feeling that the person your friend is marrying is perfectly awful? Of course not, because you love everyone. But should it happen, you now can give the perfect wedding present: divorce insurance."

Steve Pearlstein's Take

"It's hard to read this week's election results, and the public opinion polls generally, and not be concerned about the collapse of the political center.... [I disagree] that this is strictly a Republican phenomenon, in which the "tea party'' and other anti-government zealots are in the final stages of driving out experienced, thoughtful moderates from the Republican party. The dynamic on the Democratic side is as much about interest group politics as it is about political ideology, but you don't have to look hard to find it in the defeat locally of Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and Montgomery Council member Duchy Trachtenberg, or nationally in President Obama's declining poll numbers."

It's official: The Great Recession ended last summer

By Neil Irwin
The Great Recession is officially over -- and has been for more than a year.

The panel of economists that is the widely accepted arbiter of business cycles has called an end to what is now officially the longest U.S. economic downturn of the post-World War II era. The recession ended in June 2009, 18 months after it began in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research's business cycle dating committee.

But the committee took pains to make clear that it was not asserting that the economy has returned to full health.

"In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity," the committee said in statement published on the NBER's Web site. "Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month."

In other words, economic activity peaked at the end of 2007, fell for a year and a half, and has been rising since then. But it hasn't risen back to its pre-recession levels yet. Moreover, the committee said, "any future downturn of the economy would be a new recession and not a continuation of the recession that began in December 2007."

The committee moves slowly and cautiously in its pronouncements, aiming not to characterize the economy in real time but rather to establish historical benchmarks for when periods of economic expansion and contraction begin and end. It waits until ample economic data is available and has been revised, and hence there are often long delays between the onset or end of a recession and the NBER's call. The recession that began in December 2007 was not formally designated one until a year later.

The committee defines a recession as "a period of falling economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales." The designation of June 2009 as an end date for the recession conforms to a view that many economic analysts have held for some time.

According to the committee, such indicators as gross domestic product and industrial production appear to have bottomed out in June 2009. Others, however, particularly involving employment, did not begin expanding until December 2009.

The business cycle dating committee consists of eight top macroeconomists, chaired by Stanford University's Robert Hall. Only seven participated in the decision, however: David Romer, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, is on leave as his wife, Christina Romer, was until recently serving as a top adviser to President Obama.

I'm certain that the 9.6% of Americans who are unemployed (U3) and the 16% of workers who are part of the U6 broader statistic would agree; the recession is definitely in the past....for those who actually have jobs.

the recession is over...
but for many now comes the depression...
this shrunken economy has puked out millions of unemployed...
millions out of the mainstream...
millions pelosi believes can be manipulated...
lets prove her wrong...
and the next to be in power...
people first...
jobs first...
or no votes later...

The economy can't heal until the partisan gridlock in Washington ends. Stop voting for Democrats and Republicans who walk in goosestep. When you see your leaders making laws behind closed doors as it was with Dick Cheney and the energy companies like BP that did not have the best interests of the people in mind, it was clear serious trouble was soon to follow.

what a joke.. the recession is NOT OVER and the political elites in DC are CLUELESS... Just another govt agency that we pay dearly for with no real relevance in our world... Suggestions lets start closing some of these agencies and save our money

The sad thing about this is...these people have jobs!! How do they come to this idiotic conclusion? We have record unemployment still, record foreclosures still going on, and people can barely feed their families peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Must be government workers living in that pipe dream world. Our goevernment has become totally useless, non-functioning, and a big liar that the people do not trust at all anymore. Kinda sounds like the old USSR huh?

Hmmm, the recession ended in 2009 and they are announcing it a month before the 2010 elections. (Probably a coincidence.) By the way, Global warming was ended in 2008; middle-east peace happened last week; and that annoying rectal itch just resolved itelf.

I going to celebtrate tonight. But wait, why is unemployment still 9.6%? Why is their no jobs? Why doesn't the future of employment look good? Why isn't business spending their money? Why do we face a out of control national debt? Why is their so much uncertainity? Because we all know what's coming next,Obamocare, then the next recesion.

Figures don't lie, but liars figure. If you believe the Great Recession ended in 2009, then you probably also believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. The recession ended on paper (but not in actual fact) because the Federal Government BORROWED & SPENT about $2 TRILLION to postpone the day of reckoning.

If Wall Street is making money all is well , the recession is over , yes and all that oil in the gulf has magically disappeared too , crisis over . In the real world things are getting worse , not better , these rocket scientists , the same ones who stood by as the entire world's economy was sabotaged and then could only watch the house of cards fall as was inevitable , announcing that all is well and has been since June of 09 no less ... it's no surprise .

Just goes to show if you print enough money, throw enough stimulus around, allow HF trading to run market volumns to historic lows (while VIX is on the opposite end), drive GDP to truely scary levels (in comparison to debt) and allow banks to hide massive mortgage defaults...you get two months of improved GDP. BTW what was that improvement, .2%?

Further, if the Recession has been over for more than a year, how's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?

I love Pundits! I have a whole folder of their pronouncements and check back to see how absolutely WRONG they are/were about nearly everything. The unfortunate thing is newspapers seldom follow-up 12 months later to hold them up to the ridicule they so richly deserve. This is trying to repaint a rusted out car with no engine or wheels. This is a sustained and still ongoing recession that will be with us Years yet.

BluePelican "how's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?" The Republicans have done a fine job haven't they ? Half the government itself doing nothing but to sabotage and obstruct since Obama took office , trying to stop / prevent any sort of recovery . You like that huh ? They've done a good job of trashing this country and are putting in maximum effort it keeping her in bad shape , I'll give you that ! Yesssirrreeeee , good work ! You people are complete idiots .

That's great news!!!! Will this committee make sure I get my 30% pay cut back soon? I could really use it. Oh yeah maybe they could find out why most of our clients still are not doing business and giving us any work. Good to know everything worked out so well. Anybody else think that Obama but them up to making this announcement right before the election? Doesn't matter, it's just another lie.

They're saying the economy stopped receding in June 2009, not that the economy has fully recovered.

The concept isn't so mysterious or hard to understand. It's not as though things are instantly better the moment they stop getting worse. It takes longer to change the sheets than it does to wet the bed.

BluePelican "how's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?" The Republicans have done a fine job haven't they ? Half the government itself doing nothing but to sabotage and obstruct since Obama took office , trying to stop / prevent any sort of recovery . You like that huh ? They've done a good job of trashing this country and are putting in maximum effort it keeping her in bad shape , I'll give you that ! Yesssirrreeeee , good work ! You people are complete idiots .

Posted by: Koom | September 20, 2010 12:24 PM
===========
Hey Sherlock. Democrats have had control of congress since January 2007 before the recession started.

Instead of attending to business they decided to go on Bush administration investigations which went nowhere and lecture baseball players.

Democrats dropped the ball and don't know how to pick it up again. That's what happens when you have an anti-business group of academics with 0 real world experience.

As an Economist and as an American I hope that the "recession" is over and the economy will improve. Unfortunately from what I see around the world I think we are at the beginning of a world wide depression which will bring hunger to poorer countries and political instability to the weathier countries. In particular I fear that things are going to get much worse in the US. I think the Republicans, who are primarily responsible for the recesssion will win the Senate and the House and will institute more policies in favor of the rich and powerful. That will increase the huge gap between the
"haves and have nots" in the U.S. That will lead to increased instability and millions of Americans will suffer. American "fat cats" will need to increase their security to protect themselves from the poor. The future doesn't look good.

[At the meeting...]
Prez: Guys, we really need to get this economy moving again. I'm late for my spa treatement you know.
Talking Head 1: Hey do you prefer the papaya or olive wrap?
Talking Head 2: I've got a brilliant idea.. let's say the recession is over!
Prez: And how do you propose we do that?
Talking Head 2: We'll ask Committee X to release a report saying so. The media will lap it up like a good little doggy, and Americans might just be dumb enough to believe it.
Prez: Really?.. that's all it would take? And to think I was starting to lose sleep over this.
Talking Head 1: Actually I prefer the peach rub have you tried that yet?
Prez: That sounds relaxing, now if there's nothing else lets consider this whole economy thing solved. Meeting adjourned.
[Curtain.]

By the metrics used to assess a recession, it's over. However, it may be that those metrics are no longer a good measurement of a recession for an individual. It might be fine for businesses. Some businesses are doing just fine, the problem is that they're keeping their money because they don't see a reason to spend it on labor. That's the Catch-22.

Businesses, hire somebody, no matter or not you think it's worthwhile. It is.
That person will spend money, and will stimulate the economy. Then, things will get closer to normal.

"Officially over?" What world do these people live in and what kind of news organization would accord them an "official" standing?

Their model’s output reminds me of the “quants” whose models predicted great hedge fund profits from buying and selling derivatives. In the real world, millions of people have lost their homes and jobs and the number of bankrupticies and layoffs continues to grow.

Whether or not our recession continues or ends will not be affected by whether taxes or spending go up or down. Congress and the President often claim their actions, such as restoring or lowering taxes, can help achieve full employment. This is "common knowledge" and wrong.

In the real world the responsibility and tools for achieving full employment belong exclusively to the Federal Reserve. The Fed is supposed to use its ability to instantly increase liquidity when people and businesses don't have enough money to spend and it is supposed to instantly reduce liquidity when there is so much spending that inflation will otherwise result. Neither activity requires action by the congress or the president - although they being politicians always claim credit when the Federal Reserve is successful and blame others when it is not.

Each president is responsible for economy in that he appoints the Fed's governors. President Obama has, amazingly, retained/promoted those appointed by his predecessor on the basis of politics rather than macroeconomic educations and real world experience. Sort of like appointing chiropractors to the supreme court.

Unfortunately the current batch of appointees are colectively so naive and untrained in macroeconomics they (and many journalists and commentators) believe the Fed changing the overnight rate of interest is the same as the Fed setting the general level of interest rates in the country and that bankers are so dumb they will borrow money for 24 hours and loan it out for weeks and months for personal, real estate and working capital loans.

President Obama and hundreds of millions of Americans will be stuck with a depressed economy untill the president replaces enough of these people. Then the economy will turn around rather quickly. Playing with taxes and spending will have no effect - any expansionary effect of cutting taxes will be automatically offset by the Federal Reserve's standing order to the Open Market Desk to maintain the status quo. We will remain stuck in a recession until the president acts.

Cryos , hey genius , the Democrats have had a slim majority in Congress alright , but apparently you don't know that a simple majority vote doesn't do it , gotta get sixty votes , a rule that needs to be done away with , the Republicans , your pals , the ones who created this mess , have as I said done nothing but fillibuster , block , sabotage and obstruct trying to prevent or minimize any recovery . That is the truth genius ." That's what happens when you have an anti-business group of academics with 0 real world experience." , LOL , that's pretty funny , your Republican pro Wall Street , pro big business , pro international corporation geniuses with all of that real world experience did a swell job didn't they ? Oh I forgot , it was all Barney Franks fault ! LOL What planet are you living on pal ?

I'm certain that the 9.6% of Americans who are unemployed (U3) and the 16% of workers who are part of the U6 broader statistic would agree; the recession is definitely in the past....for those who actually have jobs.

This recession could not have ended at a better time. With the United States public debt reaching $13.4 trillion, the American government could not afford to increase stimulus to spend its way out of a recession that was any lengthier. Fortunately, our the interest on our public debt is still smaller than the GDP of the top 22 countries in the world. Here's a look at the most recent debt numbers:

If Obama really cared he would do something about the 11.1 million illegal aliens taking our jobs in manufacturing, construction and service industries. 8 million of which committed identity fraud by supplying their employers with stolen SSNs. A Felony.

If you haven't learned how much a liar Obama is by now, you may be hopeless.

On the vast majority of my commutes I can do the posted speed limit or better for the entire 28 miles. This has been the case for well over two years. The Great Recession has saved me thirty minutes a day. When those thirty minutes are gone, I'll believe the Great Recession is over too.

What on earth are they SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cryos , hey genius , the Democrats have had a slim majority in Congress alright , but apparently you don't know that a simple majority vote doesn't do it , gotta get sixty votes , a rule that needs to be done away with , the Republicans , your pals , the ones who created this mess , have as I said done nothing but fillibuster , block , sabotage and obstruct trying to prevent or minimize any recovery . That is the truth genius ." That's what happens when you have an anti-business group of academics with 0 real world experience." , LOL , that's pretty funny , your Republican pro Wall Street , pro big business , pro international corporation geniuses with all of that real world experience did a swell job didn't they ? Oh I forgot , it was all Barney Franks fault ! LOL What planet are you living on pal ?

By your same "logic" republicans never had a majority either so nothing Bush or republicans did could have been wrong correct? It was those obstructionist liberals right? Wrong; the GOP screwed up and that's why neocons and RINOs won't get my vote.

Not having 60 is no excuse moonbat. It just means the far left can't ramrod everything they want.

You really should see a psychiatrist about your intense hatred of the rich it clouds your judgment.

critical november elections looming that may shift the loci of power form Dems to GOP in Congress and now Happy Days are here again, the recession is over, mission accomplished by obamapelosi, we are saved and everyone will keep/ get a job, have money and their homes are saved from foreclosure, this is not the truth it is poopaganda and it doesn't smell good to me.

Thanks for one of THE great sell signals of all time, sayeth he who flubbed with the Chinese Empire Formation but scored with the Needlenose (CNBC's Erin Burnett) "Recovery/New Economy" wishful-thinking fraud ... maybe.

Goodness Gracious ... It is just a complete wonder to all that those questionable humans who make up the National Bureau of Economic Research found enough time to even put out this information/report ...... given just how deeply their noses are evidently firmly imbedded up BO'S A*S ....

The National Bureau of Economic Research is one more ivory tower group that has a lot of education, and no common sense. While by a strict, academically commonly held definition we are no longer IN a recession, we are very much still in the trough caused by it. To the common man or woman on the street, crowing about being out of the recession sounds like a lie; and is a gross distortion of their reality.

It would have been more accurate, and less deceitful, to say that the nation's economy has stopped the downward slide, is slowly recovering, but hasn't reached the level it had prior to the beginning of the recession.

golly, shazam. and whoopdedoo
The mayberry pickle can start up again, get its ace reporter back on the street. The pickle factory will reopen and employ a lot of picklepackers. I always knew good times were right around the corner, Wally's garage is doing tune ups again, and Mt. Pilot is going to hire back, the 3 guys that clean the sewer pipes.
I am glad to see my trust in
politicans in washington is
restored.

We are still in a REPRESSION. Not as bad as a depression but a lot worse then a recession. And despite what these esteemed know-it-alls say, it is not over (at least until Bluto from Animal House says its over).

Show's just how desperate the lib's are to print something like this....16%+ real unemployment, more foreclosures on the way, companies holding cash in fear of Obama......yeah it's over alright, the lib's time running DC is over!

It seems to me that the BEA has it right. However, it me put into terms that may be more meaningful to many of you.

The hemmorage has stopped, but the wound still has not completely healed. Is seems to me that the appropriate approach would be, ...be thankful that we are not still bleeding to death, but there is still a lot of work ahead until we get back to business as usual.

We did it to ourselves, starting with St. Raygun's disastrous deregulation of the S&Ls, which until then provided for an orderly mortgage market. He followed on with "Post-Industrial Society" and new tax laws that rewarded Wall Street's vultures, who could write off the debt they used to buy productive companies.

Then "favored nation status" was granted to China, Mexico etc, and the great exodus of America's industrial backbone took off.

Because Wall Street ran out of small manufacturing companies to buy, sell and cripple with debt, they turned to housing, credit, derivatives and banking to make money. All of this trading of phantom assets resulted in bubble after bubble.

Sure, China, Mexico, Japan, India and Korea have sucked off the American largesse for decades. But at the same time, Wall Street also devoured our productive, long-term businesses so a few raiders could make a quick profit. We need to restore normal free, competitive enterprise and rebuild our industrial base.

For now, we should invite foreign manufacturers to set up shop in America, because they are immune to pressure from Wall Street's analysts to make a certain quarterly profit. While American companies close plants and fire thousands when they miss a quarterly profit number that Wall Street wants, foreign companies think long-term value rather than short-term.

If we ended the two foreign civil wars of Republican adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan, brought all our troops home by Christmas 2010 and fired all the 250,000 mercenaries there we could invest that money in AMERICA creating jobs by building American infrastructure.

The recession certainly isn't over. These "experts" have simply redefined the meaning of the word "recession" at the direction of an administration anxious to cover their failures.
It's funny how Obama likes to say that he took the keys away from the right because they drove the car into a ditch, in spite of the fact that he obviously never learned to drive.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is calculating the end of the recession as it always does. Those calculations are based on consecutive quarters of gross domestic product (GDP) growth -- nothing more, nothing less.

Nobody has said that things are "all better" or that the economy has recovered completely.

NBER is simply saying that, based on how they calculate whether or not we are in a recession, we are no longer in a recession.

And for the commenter asking why they are declaring this under Obama, instead of under Bush, you should look at some GDP graphs. The GDP didn't turn positive until a few months into the first year of Obama's term; it was negative when Bush was still in office. [By the way, according to many economists, including ones that worked for John McCain or who have not political affiliations, that positive turn was due, in a large part, to the Recovery Act.]

And for the commenter asking why NBER is just declaring this now, you should research how the NBER operates. They didn't declare we were in a recession until we were more than 6 months into it. And they have taken several months to announce the end of previous recession. They don't immediately make these declarations.

Good old WaPo, still doing the Administration's bidding. Fascinating coincidence that this report comes out six weeks before the November election.

Remember in '92 that the report by economists saying the recession ended in March '91 didn't come out until after the presidential election that year? So all the Clinton/Gore rhetoric about "the worst economy in 60 years" was a total lie?

No doubt this will be spun ad nauseum by the media. "Tell a lie often enough, and people will believe it!" Who said that?

Problem is "the economy" is too vague a term. For many, a good economy means good and sustained growth in the GDP and a bullish stock market. But nowadays the GDP can grow without providing new jobs. Improved productivity, which economists see as good, means the same amount of work is produced by fewer workers. But for most people, unemployment and underemployment are what counts most when they think of "the economy", not GDP.

The biggest mistake Pres. Obama made was appointing a Republican banker as his Treasury Secretary and conservatives to other economic posts in his administration.

Haha, comics are everywhere!! I guess they think if they print it, it will be true??
I guess this is Obama's economists?? I gotta say, this gave me a laugh. Anyone take it seriously, I have a nice piece of swampland for sale-----

Hey Anonymous Economist... I fear you are right... the GOP is running on the intuitive political credo of fiscal conservatism in order to derail Obama. Unfortuantely economic reality is counter-intuitive and thier eventual success will usher in years of an economy at the bottom of a trough.. As proof I offer the majority of comments herein in which readers do not distinguish between an economy that is receding versus one that has not recovered to its pre-recession output..(To be fair I should note they are egged on by this horrendous WAPO article.) What is sad, this time, is we have the history of the Great Depression and period leading up to the "recovery" brought on by WWII spending - and we are still going to do about the same thing.....

PS: Mr. Lindauer, at the risk of confronting a die hard monetarist... have you looked at interest rates? While the IS-LM theories may well be over-simplifications, if this isn't a liquidity trap I don't know what is...

I agree with most: I'd believe this if all of us had jobs. Unfortunately, I'm part of that 9.6% who DO NOT have work!! Obama and the 'great' Dumbocrat party have had a chance to show that they cared about the unemployed and the middle class - instead, they did what the Retardocrats do: Kiss up to their corporate/foreign buddies, make sure they prosper, while, 'we, the American taxpayers' are going through living hell trying to survive each day. Until Obama, Reid, Pelosi, our 'great' gov't officials, as well as BOTH the Dumbocrats and the Retardocrats ACTUALLY have to sleep in the streets, ACTUALLY have to do manual labor for a living instead of just running their mouths to tell more lies/bullcrap to the American people, and ACTUALLY know what the meaning of the word 'survival' is for everyday taxpayers, I will believe that the 'great recession' is over when our 'great' gov't makes it legal to print money for anything I want like they do. Can't wait until November to vote these worthless bums out!!!

if the recession was over in june 2009...then that means obama has been nothing but ignorant,incompetent,wasteful and on the way to being the worse POTUS ever...thanks to the welfare democrats and liberal morons....hahahahaha!

You have to marvel at the absolute rank arrogance of the loony left. As unemployment rises and things get worse for Americans from coast to coast, the progressive socialist party (aka democrat party) and it's communication arm (aka the lame stream media), tell us that it's all just a figment of our collective imaginations. Of course the do so citing claims made by the National Bureau of Economic Research (a collection of far left loons).

November can’t come soon enough! This is going to be the biggest route EVER! The progressive socialists are FINISHED. :<)

These jokers need to remove their heads from the part of their anatomy where the sun does'nt shine, come down off of the lofty tower and get out on the streets of America where unemployment remains high, houses prices are depressed, stock values are down, and there is NO END IN SIGHT.

Yes, the recession is over. The Democrats have converted it into a permanent depression.

Just this weekend there was a discussion in my company about the fact there is no way we can hire because of the unknowns created by Obamacare. Our health insurer had just given us a largely undecipherable report on all the things we have to do to comply with Obamacare, or alternatively, to opt out and grandfather our existing coverage. Interestingly, they were advocating we adopt Obamacare, which they said initially would cost "the same." But it meant we would adopt new coverage limitations that would actually have higher co-pays and hurt our workers. Also, they could make no promises that the cost of Obamacare would not increase over our present plan because of all the new mandates.

The result was our saying, how can companies rationally make any hiring and employment decisions at this point?

For the record, to those making the ignorant comments about unemployment and cutting government spending, just remember, the more you cut government spending, the higher the unemployment rate. There are lots of government employees who will be lining up for private sector jobs with those currently unemployed... Theres no such thing as creating jobs while cutting federal spending... Further, the truth of the matter is, which no conservative wants to accept, is that the debt did not appear after the Obama administration, so stop blaming him. The debt was growing by massive amounts since 9/11/2001... The attack on our country was deserving of federal spending, so why isn't the attack of the finance industry? Just wondering.

I've only read the first twenty or so entries in this thread. I'm hoping someone already said something similar to what I have to offer.

These comments by readers show a gross ignorance of basic macroeconomics. I love the trend in America where we get to make up our own facts and we discredit anything by someone with expertise as being from the "elites".

Recessions have a very specific definition. Namely, two quarters of negative GDP growth equals a recession. That is all this "official" statement addresses...GDP has been growing slowly since June 2009, but the economy has not contracted.

The popular definition of a recession is obviously something different than the economic definition. More specifically, the general population looks at other indicators like job creation, unemployment, balance of trade, etc.

There is nothing political behind this announcement. To claim otherwise, or to criticize the group releasing the report, is simply a display of ignorance.

The recession is over for the economy but not for the average worker. If the first is true we are out of the ditch that was created by the Republicans. Now we have to crawl back to normalcy. Unless people elect those folks again who put us in the ditch in the first place and obstructed vehemently our coming out.

In what world do these educated fools live? Or do they just have their heads where the sun never shines? Yes there are a few people that are doing very well, bankers, stock brokers and real estate brokers, thanks to the billions in bailout money. It isn't so nice for the person that is unemployed or those that lost their creer jobs and are now working two or three part time jobes and still can't make ends meet. The same goes for inflation yes the price of real estate is down along with many consumer items that people can do without. They just can't afford them, but living necessities have jumped in price greatly in the last two or three years. For example sugar has gone from around $4.00 for 10lbs to over $7.00 for 10lbs. Medical care has went up 1/3 or more as has medicine and that is when you are on Medicare. It has been more for other people. How many people have lost their health insurance with their jobs? Utilities have gone up 1% to 3% or more in that time. It is no wonder the emigrants are going back home. The USA no longer is a place where the common man can make a good living and secure a better life for his children. I am beginning to feel ashamed to call myself an American.

slide of hand garbage. again taken from the jimmy carter playbook they did the same thing bogus employment reports, bogus inflation reports, its to bad you cant believe one thing that this administration says or the ones that are influenced by them bunch of Chicago thugs

Neither a boost in private-sector hiring nor a shrinking labor force could rescue Nevada from yet another unemployment record in August.

The construction sector, restaurants and professional firms all added jobs in the month, but declines in Census jobs and other public-sector cuts offset that hiring to push statewide unemployment to an all-time high of 14.4 percent, the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation said this morning. That's up from 14.3 percent in July and 12.5 percent in August 2009.

SAYS YOU DON'T MEAN ITS NOT TRUE! OUR PRESIDENT IS TELLING BALL FACE LIES. CHANNEL 13 SAYS WE WILL BE IN THIS ECONMIC CRISIS TILL 2018. AMERICA DAMN STAND UP FOR YOURSELFS LET IT BE KNOWN YOU WON'T LYE DOWN FOR THEM ROLL YOU OVER LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN. WHICH BY THE WAY THEY ARE ALREADY DOING IT!

It could really be over if the following measures were taken:
Unemployment:
Lower taxes
Abolish wage controls
Health Care:
Abolish all regulations on insurance companies and any state-run insurance programs.
Government debt:
Abolish all subsidies
Legalize drugs and end the War On.
Legalize immigration (The more the Merrier)
End the war on "terror".
The rest is covered above.
Basically get any kind of activity that is state run, privately run so that we can stop wasting money. Any government program is automatically more wasteful than a private activity and no one can shut it down. The reason for this is a lack of incentives for state-run programs to do better and do more with less.
Simple, but not easy.

USC and private foundations have assisted illegal immigrants or day workers by donating cell phones. Two professors at San Diego State want to make cells with GPS capabilities available to Mexicans who want to make the illegal trek across the U S border. The advocacy groups, foundations and universities are making the cell phones availabe for the purpose of a political tool for the Mexican nationals as more illegal immigrants enter the United States every day. A cell phone, even a basic type, is a useful tool for the homeless and unemployed person and many of those persons do not have one due to its cost.

the recession is over...
but for many now comes the depression...
this shrunken economy has puked out millions of unemployed...
millions out of the mainstream...
millions pelosi believes can be manipulated...
lets prove her wrong...
and the next to be in power...
people first...
jobs first...
or no votes later...

Posted by: DwightCollins
----------
Let's add McConnell and Boehner of the GOP on line 6 to show what they are. Manipulator who have no creditability.

Neither a boost in private-sector hiring nor a shrinking labor force could rescue Nevada from yet another unemployment record in August.

The construction sector, restaurants and professional firms all added jobs in the month, but declines in Census jobs and other public-sector cuts offset that hiring to push statewide unemployment to an all-time high of 14.4 percent, the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation said this morning. That's up from 14.3 percent in July and 12.5 percent in August 2009.

THANK YOU OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS

Posted by: COOLCHILLY
-----------
You left out the Republicans and Bush both caused this in the first place.

The new spelling for economists - those who still heve their tenured professorships and/or don't face forclosure - is I-D-I-O-T. Anyone who thinks that this recession is over and don with is in need of immediate psychiatric counseling and treatment for a severe mental disorder.

"economic activity peaked at the end of 2007, fell for a year and a half, and has been rising since then. But it hasn't risen back to its pre-recession levels yet. Moreover, the committee said, "any future downturn of the economy would be a new recession and not a continuation of the recession that began in December 2007"

They know they are lying. The Great Depression matches up with the step down, plateau, and another step down just like this one. Even a totally illiterate person can look at the lines on the graphs and match them up.

Someone forgot to tell the 50 million who lost jobs, houses, savings, scholarships, loans, portfolios or careers. It may be time for Washington to include the heartland of America in its statistics. New York, Washington, Boston and San Francisco are not mainstream America.

Why can't these out-of-touch economists coin new economic terms to describe high levels of joblessness and underemployment as well as the public's overwhelmingly negative feelings about the economy (helplessness, uncertainty, anxiety, doubt, fear, anger, etc.)?

Reference This Article and "(AP, JEANNINE AVERSA) It's official: The longest recession the country has endured since World War II ended in June 2009, according to a group that dates the beginning and end of recessions."

Only a group of mushrooms could come up with the interpretation that this downturn has been over for over a year ! ? !

Time to pull your heads out of your butts boys and girls - stop smelling your own crap - wake up and start smelling the crap that's all around all of us / every hard working (but out of work) U.S. citizen.

Anyone who believes this one will believe anything that anybody says / writes.

Too many people out of work to say that the recession is over if you ask me.

So the recession if over???? This guy called me yesterday and wants to sell me some ocean front property in Arizona and I'm driving there right now with all my savings(?) to buy it up!!!!

Who the heck are they trying to fool? The American voter, that is who. There is not way this recession is anywhere over. Ask the millions of unemployed, the recent college grads who were top of their class who can't find jobs, the families who have lost their homes or will soon, the seniors who because of no increase in SS and low, low rates on what savings (if they still have any) cannot afford both food and meds; ask the young man whose parents can't afford to send him to college yet he himself cannot get a job; ask the single mother who can't provide enough food for her children; NO, this recession is not over. Look in your neighborhood and see all the "For Sale" signs on homes which have been there for some time. Ask the young people who have moved back home because they could not afford an apartment and the costs of utilities; ask the elderly who do without air conditioning in 90 plus weather; ask the people who ask their doctors for samples of drugs or generics even though generics are not as effective as the "real" drug. Ask the families who have given up the family pets because they could not afford to feed them and cried when they did so.

Obama and the Democrats have fabricated this "recession is over" because of the forthcoming November election. People, don't be fooled by the liberal press and Obama and the Democrats. Our nation is in serious trouble and the American people are hurting. They just want to be like the communist and put out information that they want us to hear. Are we that stupid? I hope not.

Recession is just a label but we do have serious structural issues that need to be addressed to 'fix' the job situation.

More and more work is being farmed overseas by corporations as they are able to find skilled workers over there to do the same work - including 'high tech' - more cheaply. We need to compete.

What we need are tax incentives for business to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and to create other jobs and also, financial incentives to get people through higher education to improve skill sets. And protectionist to a certain extent, but we then need some kind of meaningful (but not government initiated) push to 'buy American.'

We also need government led 'business summits' with business leaders to help chart a positive course.

This is like Bush declaring "Mission Completed" on the USS Kennedy following the 2003 invasion of Iraq when the war is just begiining. Only this time, it's Obama's "economic" minions declaring "the recession has been over" when the "great recession" is just the beginning of another "great depression". Like Bush, this is going to be the udoing of the Obama administration.

So many comments here are, in essence, "the economy is still bad, how can the recession be over?"

Why do so few people understand that a bad economy and a recession are not the same thing? The economy is growing -- a statistical fact -- and therefore, by definition, it cannot be in recession.

The real question is, why are things still bad for most people? We are are so few people benefiting from this growing economy? Why is the majority of the improvement going to only the top tier? Why are the rich getting richer while the middle class get poorer and the poor get left behind?

Then consider about who wants to see an equitable distribution of the benefits of economic improvement, versus who wants to continue just putting it in the pockets of the rich. Think about it!

AMAZING- while real underemployment and unemployment is somewhere around 25-28% and tens of millions are losing their homes......some well to do researchers announce that the recession is over.......guess that means the double dip coming will be just another downhill on the rollercoaster.....

Poverty is at an all time high and government spending is at an all time high with federal deifict spending at an all time high...and as well the senseless waste of approx. $1.3 TRILLION a year on DESTRUCTION continues along with over paid government employees and their benefits and outrageous pensions and the bank and brokerage and military industrialists and oil barons are still not in jail.....

Guess it's time to have a beer (hard to find an american one) and listen to country music and watch highly overpaid football players ...................

Holy Crap, I didn't know that. The recession is over? Did anyone tell the tap dancer in the white house? Did anyone tell Pelosi or Reid? These politicians are sneaky. They are making our economy better behind our backs. How dare they! He is the messiah. I'll bet he just waved his cigarette like a wand and commanded that the recession be over. I believe, I believe.

These people, the leftist elite egg head economists who are trying to prop up the progressive Dems in Congress and Obama, are just inane. This is a bunch of hooey. In Harry's NV, the unemployment rate is now 14.4 %. Nationally, we are still near 10%. Housing starts are down. Illegals are flooding our border states and destroying the economy plus are a criminal danger to America. They have not put into their equations, Obamacare or amnesty or cap and trade or their horrid fiscal reform. Nonsense , all of this report and only libs and Journolists like The Post would believe it. Also, these same progressives , these same economists would just love for BHO to tax and spend some more. Idiots.

This reminds me of that ad (Monster.com?) where all the monkeys are cheering and partying because they have the sales chart upside down and think everything is fantastic. When the human rains on their parade by flipping the chart right-side up, they turn on him rather than face the truth.

Did it? Then why is the cost of gas still so high? Why did the cost of cigarrettes & alcohol go up AGAIN? Why is there still no housing available? Why are programs still crying broke instead of providing services? And why the hell are there still no damn jobs out there?!!!!!

Not very convincing to the poor and the unemployed. Also not very helpful news to the millions who lost thier home. definitely not very relevant news compared to the ultimate cost to our nation's economy.

However, like the article on how seniors/retired fared in this "downturn," it is becoming very clear that what saved USA from disaster was the Social Security System and private/government/ military pensions. Seniors were essentially who fuelled the consumer-based economy that kept chugging along for the past two years and allowed the "economists" to offer thier reprieve. In other words Social Security works!!

Average Americans know that not only is this minor economic depression not over, but it's just getting started.

It used to be that the government took a lot of effort to at least make it appear that what they said might be the truth. With the advent of Bush II, they have no qualms about making numerous bald-faced lies, constantly & consistently in their attempts to manipulate the people.

Pravda & Tass had nothing over the manipulative abilities of the massive & powerful American propaganda machine. As Vladimir Putin once said to G Dubya, "We both use propaganda to manipulate our people, but your system is far more effective."

"The committee also was also concerned about the possibility of a further decline. The panel "has to guard against the possibility, even if very small, that what seems to be the beginning of an expansion is actually just an interruption in a longer contraction," the group said in April."

Does anyone actually understand this gibberish?

Here is what matters to me: over 15% of this nation's work force have lost their jobs. Some have completely given up looking. 9.6% are still desperately trying to find work. Under current government regulations manufacturing is not coming back. Service sector jobs don't pay enough to keep the economy going. Even if the banks were lending, people can't afford to borrow any more.

Declaring good news in this sorry state of the economy is nothing more than some sort of pre-election propaganda

It is obvious you people are no able to think outside of your political soapbox. The recession ended based on the economic definition of recession, whether you like it or not. No, all is not well in America, but by definition, the recession has ended.

That definition is based on the GNP. Part of the problem is that, businesses have found ways of increasing production, without hiring more people. Therefore an increase, or lack of decrease in GNP does not neccessarily equate with hiring more people.

So while the definition may be true and the recession technically is over, all is not well in America as lots of people are still out of a job.

With people still out of work, people are anxious and willing to continue being thrifty, or in other words they are not buying the endless stuff they really don't need.

And since consumer spending is down, businesses are afraid to hire.

Yes, economics is very complicated, but technically, by definition the recession has ended, which is all that was claimed.

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